


Ribs

by buoyantsaturn



Series: auctober 2018 [12]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Artists, Artist Nico di Angelo, M/M, Nudity, like will's naked almost the whole time but its not graphic, model will solace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-07-29 14:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16265885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: “Hi, um. Sorry, I hope I have the right number. Is this Will Solace? Shit, sorry, you can’t answer me, this is a voicemail. Um. You modeled for my life drawing class, and I was wondering if you could model for me privately? Wait, shit, that sounds creepy, hold on. Start over. My name is Nico di Angelo and I’d like to hire you as a model so I can complete my final portfolio for my class. The one you modeled for. Um. Please call me back if you’re interested. Thanks.”its a fic of this headcanon list





	Ribs

**Author's Note:**

> happy auctober!! we're in the last ten days now!! anyway, I hope you enjoy this fic!!
> 
> title is a lorde song that i havent picked yet at this point rip

“Hi, um. Sorry, I hope I have the right number. Is this Will Solace? Shit, sorry, you can’t answer me, this is a voicemail. Um. You modeled for my life drawing class, and I was wondering if you could model for me privately? Wait, shit, that sounds creepy, hold on. Start over. My name is Nico di Angelo and I’d like to hire you as a model so I can complete my final portfolio for my class. The one you modeled for. Um. Please call me back if you’re interested. Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

Nico and Will had communicated everything through text. Time and place - Nico’s apartment was closer for Will than the school’s studios, and they would work around Will’s busy schedule - Will’s rate was discussed, and they set up a time for their first meeting. They didn’t speak in person before then, and Nico didn’t want to make a terrible first - technically second or maybe even third - impression by letting Will think he was a slob before they’d even properly met, which meant that Nico had been furiously cleaning his apartment for a while before the time Will was supposed to show up.

Nico would never admit it, but there was a reason he’d asked Will over any of the other models that had sat for his class. He’d met Will once, so briefly that there was no way Will would remember it, but Will had complimented something of Nico’s that had been on display in the studio. There had been a sparkle in Will’s eyes when he saw Nico’s painting, and Nico had wanted to recreate that same look in as many medias as he could manage.

When Will finally knocked on the door, Nico had to shout, “Just a second!” while he struggled to hide things away in a closet before he could rush over to open the door. 

“Um. Hi,” Nico said.

Will smiled brightly down at him. “Oh!  _ You’re  _ Nico! I remember you now, hi!”

“Hi,” Nico said again, and moved out of the doorway. “Um. Please, come in.”

Will walked past him and set his backpack down on the couch, pulling off his jacket as well. “So, what are we doing today? You said you wanted to work in different medias, right? And you probably need specific poses or something? How do you want me?”

Nico was almost frozen. “Um, however you want is good. I was going to stick with charcoal today, and probably leave ink and paints for another time. I’ll need one standing, one halfway - like, sitting or crouching or something - and one full down.” 

Will tugged his shirt over his head and tucked his thumbs in the waistband of his sweatpants before he caught Nico staring at him. “Sorry, um, I just figured if you’re going to see me naked then there’s no harm in just, uh… You know?”

“Right, of course,” Nico said, and his gaze dropped to the ground. “You...do that. I’ve got a space heater around here somewhere, so I’ll go find that. Just, uh, get comfortable.”

Nico kept his eyes on the ground as he went to his bedroom, finding the space heater where he’d shoved it under the bed about a week ago to get it out of his way. 

“Hey, I’ve got some reading to do for class, is it cool if I’m holding something while we’re doing this?” Will called from the living room, and Nico bumped his head on his bed frame as he tried to get out from underneath it.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he shouted, and got to his feet to drag the space heater out of the room. He brought it out to the living room as he said, “I really don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t move. You could take a nap if you wanted to, and I’d just draw you while you’re sleeping.”

He nearly dropped the space heater when he spun around to face Will. “Wait, no! That sounded weird, I’m not trying to be creepy, I  _ promise.” _

Will chuckled. “I believe you, don’t worry about it.”

Nico allowed himself to relax, though that was the same moment he noticed that Will was completely naked. Nico’s heart skipped a beat as his eyes fell back to the floor, and he said, “Do you want to start?”

“Oh, right,” Will said, and Nico watched his bare feet pad across the wood floors for a moment, like he was scouting a place to pose. “Anywhere?” 

Nico nodded.

He waited until Will had stopped moving to set up the space heater, and dragged over his easel and a chair. When Nico took a seat, he finally looked up to see the pose Will had taken. 

He was sort of standing in front of the window, one foot propped up on the windowsill while the other was planted on the ground to keep his balance. His back was straight against the wall and his textbook was sat in his lap, and Nico was so thankful that he wouldn’t be getting such an eyeful as long as the textbook stayed where it was. 

“Are you going to be able to hold that for an hour?” Nico asked, already itching to start drawing the smooth lines of Will’s shoulders and legs and the sharp point of his hip that seemed to be staring right at Nico.

“It’ll be fine,” Will told him. “My neck might start to get stiff, but I’ll be fine. Are you starting yet?”

“Uh, yeah. Let me know if you need a break or some water or if you get too cold,” Nico told him, and started to draw.

Nico tended to get lost in his work when he was as focused as he was, and he almost forgot he was sketching out a real person and not a statue when Will’s face started to twitch. 

“Will?” Nico said, and Will flinched.

“Sorry, can I move my hand?” Will asked.

“Oh, sure, but try not to move anything else,” Nico told him. 

Will reached up with the hand closest to the window and scratched at his nose. “Ugh, finally. My nose has been itching for like, an hour.”

“Wait, an  _ hour?” _ Nico repeated. “How long have we been sitting here?”

Will shrugged his shoulder just slightly. “I dunno, long enough for me to get a headstart on next week’s readings.”

Nico leaned over and checked his phone, seeing that more than an hour and a half had passed since they’d started. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you here so long. Do you think you could hold on for just ten more minutes? I’ve done everything but your face and hair, but I can try to be quick.”

“Yeah, I can do ten minutes,” Will replied. “But not much longer than that, I have somewhere I have to be.”

Nico nodded and went back to work, drawing Will’s face in great detail but only sketching out the basic shape of his hair - he could fix that up later on his own time.

“Alright, I think we’re done for today,” Nico said finally, and Will didn’t hesitate to stand up stretch his arms up over his head. Nico ducked his head behind his easel so that he could only see Will from the waist up.

“Can I see?” Will asked, already walking closer and leaning over Nico’s shoulder to take a look. “Oh, wow.”

Nico didn’t see what Will was so impressed by, since the sparkle he could see in Will’s eyes was already more beautiful than an emotionless drawing.

“That’s amazing,” Will told him. “You really are good at this, you know? I remember seeing something of yours in the studio once, it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Nico felt himself flush from the proximity - when they turned their heads to look at each other, their noses almost brushed. Plus, Will was still completely naked.

“Anyway, I should probably get going,” Will said, finally moving away, toward the couch where he’d left his backpack. He took out a pair of boxers and pulled those on before dressing in clothes different than the ones he’d been wearing when he arrived.

Nico tried to occupy himself with cleaning up so that he wasn’t simply staring at Will while he dressed, but eventually Will asked him, “How do I look?”

He didn’t understand how it was possible for someone to look better wearing so many layers of clothes than when they were naked, but somehow Will made it happen. He’d put on jeans and a t-shirt and a flannel and a jacket, despite the fact that it really wasn’t all that cold outside.

Nico realized after a moment that he hadn’t answered, so he nodded his head. “Uh, good. You-- That’s not what you were wearing earlier.”

“Yeah, no,” Will said, slipping his hands into his pockets. “My sister set me up on a date with some guy tonight. She thinks I’ll like him, but I’m not a fan of setups.” He shrugged. “I like to meet the guy myself, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Nico said, and Will picked up his backpack. “Well, uh, good luck?”

“Thanks,” Will said with a smile. “Let me know when you want me to come over again, okay?”

 

* * *

 

Will was slouching in a chair, one arm relaxed on his lap and the over holding up his head, his feet flat on the floor. His body was facing Nico but his head was turned away slightly, and his eyes were starting to droop shut.

“Will?” Nico said when the model had started tipping forward.

“Sorry,” Will said, and righted himself. “I was up all last night studying for a practical I had earlier. I don’t think I did very well.”

“Practical?” Nico prompted, partially because he was genuinely curious but also because he figured that if he kept Will talking, then he wouldn’t fall asleep.

“I had to diagnose a patient based on the symptoms my classmates pretended to have, but I think I confused aphagia and aplasia, and I made a mistake when I was giving somebody else symptoms and messed them up, and--” He sighed. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

Nico didn’t respond to that, so he chose not to. He checked the time and saw that they’d been going for about half an hour, and Nico had inked out Will’s basic form. He could easily spend another half out just on Will’s face and hands, and figured that if Will moved now, he could easily recreate the pose.

“Do you want to take a second to stretch?” Nico asked. “We can take a break, if you think you can get back to that position.”

Will shook his head just slightly. “Nah, I think I’ll be fine.” While keeping his head pointed in one direction, he glanced at Nico out of the corner of his eye and let his lips twitch up in a tiny smile. “You could try talking to me, then maybe I won’t start falling asleep again.”

Nico felt himself starting to blush so he tried to hide behind his easel. “It’s hard for me to keep up a conversation when I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Okay, then ask me something and hopefully it’ll be a good enough question that I can talk about it for a little while,” Will suggested.

Nico hummed. “Alright. Um. How was your date?”

Will seemed surprised by the question, but maintained his pose. “My date?”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Nico said quickly. “I shouldn’t have asked something so personal, sorry.”

“No, no! It’s fine, really,” Will said. “It was...fine. We had dinner at a mediocre place, and he was--” Will huffed and rolled his eyes. “He was  _ so boring, _ and kind of an asshole, too. He only talked about himself and pretended not to notice when the waitress dropped off the check. Like,  _ I  _ wasn’t the one that ordered two beers and a dessert for himself, which was probably a third of the check on its own.”

“He was just in it for the free meal, then?” Nico asked, and realized that he was studying Will’s sour expression more than he was sketching it out. 

“I guess so, yeah,” Will sighed.

“Asshole,” Nico agreed. 

Will went on complaining about his date, and Nico seemed to hum in all the right places because it kept Will talking. Soon enough, Nico was able to finish inking all of the lines, and told Will that he could move.

Immediately, he stretched his arms over his head and groaned. “Damn, the complaining felt good but my back feels like shit. I’ve been hunched over tables for days with all this studying and I think it’s finally catching up to me. Maybe sitting like that for so long was a mistake.”

“Hey, don’t blame me, I offered you a stretch break,” Nico reminded him. 

“Yeah, I know,” Will said, and slowly got to his feet. “Can I see?”

“Sure,” Nico replied, and angled his easel so that Will could come around and see it. “I’m done with all the inking, and I’m going to use watercolors to finish it up, but that’s something I can do on my own time.”

“You’ll have to show me the next time I’m here,” Will said. “It looks amazing already, but I’m sure it’ll be even better when you’re done with it.”

Nico scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. “An artist’s only as good as his model.”

 

* * *

 

Will was stretched out on Nico’s couch, legs propped up on one arm, his head against the other. His head was turned toward Nico for the first time during one of these sessions, so he was able to watch Nico as he worked. 

“How’d you get into all this?” Will asked suddenly, breaking the silence around them. “Drawing and painting and everything.”

Nico shrugged. “Something to do. I moved around a lot as a kid, and art was the only thing that was really constant. What about you? You want to be a doctor, right?”

“That’s the dream,” Will said. “I like helping people, it seemed like the way to do it.”

“Maybe someday if you get your own practice or whatever, then I can paint something for you to hang in your waiting room,” Nico told him, not even realizing that he was saying it out loud. 

“I would love that,” Will said sincerely, and when Nico looked up, he noticed that same sparkle that would appear whenever Will saw a piece of Nico’s art that he really liked. 

“Don’t move,” Nico whispered, like saying the words too loudly might startle the look off Will’s face. 

“Don’t move what?” Will asked.

“Your face,” Nico said, working quick so that he didn’t lose this chance. “You-- It’s… It’s a good face, just don’t move it.”

“A good face, huh?” Will repeated, expression softening and making the sparkle in his eyes shine brighter.

Nico brushed his hair away from his eyes, smearing paint across his forehead unknowingly. Will looked like he was holding back laughter. 

“What?” Nico asked.

“Please just hurry before I laugh and ruin this,” Will told him. 

“Right, okay,” Nico said, and got back to work.

He wasn’t exactly happy with the finished product, but any more touch ups might have ruined it completely, so Nico set down his brushes.

“Okay,” Nico said with a sigh, and Will hated how disappointed he looked.

He jumped up off the couch and went to look over Nico’s shoulder, eyes landing on the most lifelike painting he’d ever seen. It was like Nico had caught him mid-laugh, eyes shining, and Will gasped at the sight. “Wow,” he whispered. “That’s… I know I always say your stuff is amazing, but… This is really…”

“It’s not  _ perfect, _ though,” Nico said. “Some of the shadows are uneven, and your eyes aren’t the same shape, and--”

“No, they’re just right,” Will told him, leaning in and pointing at the painting’s eyes. “My one eye squints like that whenever I smile, so you got it perfect.”

Nico huffed. “I doubt my instructor will see it that way.”

Will stepped back and went over to the chair where he’d stacked his clothes, pulling on his underwear once he found it. “I’ll tell you what,” he said while tugging his shirt on over his head. “When you get a perfect score on your portfolio, we’ll go out for drinks to celebrate.” He put on his pants while Nico stood up and started cleaning up his supplies.

“And what happens when I  _ don’t _ get a perfect score?” Nico asked.

Will moved to stand in front of him, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’ll buy you dinner.”

Nico looked up in surprise. “You don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to,” Will replied. “I’ve...really enjoyed spending time with you, and I don’t want that to end just because you’re finished with your assignments. I  _ like you, _ Nico.”

“You’re...serious?”

Will rolled his eyes and smiled. “Of course I’m serious. “You’re funny, and nice, and you’re cute when you’re concentrating and when you’re nervous and...all the time, really. So I want to go out with you, like, on a date. So, Nico, will you--”

Nico pressed forward and kissed him, brushing his fingers across Will’s cheeks. When he pulled back, he saw paint streaked on Will’s face and the brightest of sparkles in his eyes as he smiled down at Nico.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! i'll see yall for the rest of auctober!!


End file.
